Today's society is becoming more health and weight conscious with a large portion of the population having a growing desire to feel and look better. One of the major ways for people to become healthier is for them to get their weight under control. Reducing the amount of calories that is consumed in a day will enable a person to lose weight and thus help that person to become a more healthier and vibrant individual. A large portion of the calories that a person consumes is associated with the amount of fat that is consumed. Hence, by a person reducing the amount of fat that is consumed in a day, he will inevitably reduce the amount of calories that are consumed, and thus lose weight and become healthier when combined with a physical fitness program. Not only will a person feel better about himself but he will improve his health by improving his cardiovascular functions. Consequently, a whole new market for no and low-fat products has emerged.
No and low fat foods are synonymous with low calories foods that have been widely advocated as a diet regimen to control excess body weight. One such food is low calorie mayonnaise.
In general, mayonnaise is an emulsified water continuous semigelled food prepared from vegetable oil(s), an acidifying ingredient of vinegar or citrus juice such as from lemon or lime, and an egg yolk containing ingredient such as liquid egg yolks, frozen egg yolks, dried egg yolks, liquid whole eggs, frozen whole eggs, dried whole eggs, or any of the above mentioned ingredients with liquid egg white or frozen egg white. Many other optional ingredients can be added to the mayonnaise as long as it does not impart to the mayonnaise a color simulating the color imparted by egg yolk. In the United States, this definition of mayonnaise is set forth by the Food and Drug Administration, HHS, Section 169.140 of 21 CFR chapter 1 (4-94 Ed.)
Mayonnaise, and mayonnaise-like dressings typically contain high amounts of fat. For example, real mayonnaise contains about 80% fat and the so called "light" mayonnaise products, marketed only in recent years, also contain about 36% fat. Most recently, an increased interest has been shown in oil-free mayonnaise-like dressing, or what is referred to in the art as spoonable dressings. In order to meet the claim of being fat-free, the products must contain less than 3.33% by weight fat or 0.5 grams of fat per tablespoon (15 grams) serving.
Notwithstanding the above, major problems are associated with the production of acceptable fat-free or low fat mayonnaise-like dressings, including the need to impart the creamy mouth feel associated with the high fat content of real mayonnaise, and the lack of opacity normally associated with those products which contain 3.33% fat or less.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,742 discloses an approach to making a no and low fat mayonnaise by using uncooked and ungelatinized rice starch with a particular particle size. European Patent Publication 441,495 discloses how an emulsion based on an aqueous phase containing gel forming agents like agar, gelatin, pectin, and/or carrageenan can replace a part of the normally present triglycerides in salad dressing or mayonnaise. The oil phase must contain an emulsifier.
Another approach of making low fat mayonnaise is disclosed in European Patent Publication no. 558,113 which discloses an oil-in-water spoonable emulsion with an aqueous phase containing microgels with a mean equivalent diameter of less than 100 microns. The aqueous phase is based on a gelling agent, e.g., pectin, and during the temperature setting, chemical shearing is applied to the product in order to obtain microgels.
Yet another approach of making no or low fat mayonnaise is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,531 which discloses a no or low oil mayonnaise using nonspheroidally shaped carbohydrate gel particles having particular size dimensions. The fat substitute is prepared by making a gel and then by means of shear, breaking the gel into well defined gel particles which will simulate emulsified products like mayonnaise, salad dressing, yoghurt and spreads.
The need still exist in the food industry for an improved fat simulating substance for making no or low fat mayonnaise that still has organoleptic characteristics that imitate real mayonnaise. The approach of the present invention is to use non-amidated or amidated galacturonic acid methyl esters with a degree of esterification below 55% (hereinafter referred to as "LMC pectin" or "LMA pectin" or collectively as "LM pectins") to replace part or all of the fat in order to make a mayonnaise that has organoleptic characteristics that imitate real mayonnaise.